JPMorgan Chase & Co. The former first lady of the US Virgin Islands has been accused of assisting Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking in several ways, including helping arrange visas, jobs and travel for some of his victims and helping him monitor of sex offenders in the territory. law.
According to the bank, Cecile de Jongh, the wife of former USVI Governor John de Jongh, was “Epstein’s main channel for spreading money and influence throughout the USVI government.”
He managed Epstein’s USVI companies, received $200,000 in compensation in 2007 alone, and also paid tuition for his children, JPMorgan contends. He also “clearly advised Epstein on how to buy control of the USVI political class,” the bank said.
The bank made the allegations in court on Thursday FILING that’s a slightly redacted version of one filed earlier in the week. The filing was made against the USVI’s motion to block JPMorgan from arguing a “dirty hands” defense in the lawsuit in the territory that accuses the bank of knowingly benefiting from Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Read More: USVI Seeks to Ban JPMorgan’s ‘Dirty Hands’ Epstein Defense
According to JPMorgan lawyers, de Jongh helped obtain student visas for three young women connected to Epstein, arranging their enrollment at the University of the Virgin Islands. “Perhaps aware of the risk of signing a registered sex offender on the letter,” the first lady offered to have someone else sign the letters for the girls demonstrating their ability to pay tuition, the bank said.
Epstein donated heavily to USVI politicians and the government itself, according to the filing. That includes $30,000 to the campaign of Representative Stacey Plaskett, the USVI’s non-voting delegate to Congress, a $25,000 gift to current Governor Albert Bryan’s inaugural committee and donations to the school library. De Jongh also suggested that Epstein put USVI Senator Celestino White on “some sort of monthly retainer” to gain loyalty and access, the filing states.
De Jongh also acted as a conduit between Epstein and the USVI Port Authority, which manages the airport used by Epstein.
“Based on his government connections, when traveling to a USVI airport accompanied by young women as a registered sex offender, Epstein could rely on his ‘good relationship’ with officials there to avoid scrutiny or identification,” the filing said. In 2010, Epstein emailed de Jongh to complain about a “difficult” airport customs official. Two years later, he asked her about the possibility of sending all 78 customs officers a turkey for Thanksgiving.
‘Will It Work for You?’
In 2011, De Jongh and Epstein also discussed the wording of a bill before the USVI legislature to increase monitoring of sex offenders. Epstein was registered as a sex offender following his 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
“This is the proposed language; will it work for you?” de Jongh allegedly asked Epstein in an email about the draft. When the bill was later passed, he apologized to her for “how things turned out,” JPMorgan said.
“However, all is not lost and we will learn something by creating a game plan to solve these obstacles,” he wrote, according to the bank. JPMorgan alleged that de Jongh “devised a plan to facilitate Epstein’s easy travel to and from the USVI” by working with specific politicians and officials in the territory.
The case is USVI v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 22-cv-10904-UA, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).